‘Ferried Baig, tall boy from railway station to mall’

Deposing in the German Bakery blast case, an auto-rickshaw driver on Saturday told the court that on the day of the blast, he had ferried Mirza Himayat Inayat Baig and a "tall, fair boy wearing a cap" whose CCTV grab he had seen in a Marathi daily.

He told the court he dropped them at Pune Central Mall. He had identified Baig, the lone arrested suspect in the case, in an identification parade earlier.

According to the ATS chargesheet, Baig and absconding suspect Yasin Bhatkal alias Ahmed Siddibappa, had travelled on the day of the blast in an autorickshaw to Pune Central Mall.

The rickshaw driver (not named) was called as a witness on Saturday before additional sessions judge N P Dhote.

During examination by special public prosecutor Raja Thakare, the driver said he was waiting outside Pune railway station at 4 pm on February 13, 2010. "Two persons aged between 28 and 31 years asked me to drop them at Rajneesh Ashram. I started driving via Jehangir Hospital and Ruby Hall Clinic towards Koregaon Park. I was about to take a right turn to Koregaon Park, when the two asked me to head straight to Bundgarden instead of turning right. They stopped me near Pune Central Mall. It was around 4.15 pm. I told them Koregaon Park was ahead, but they alighted near the mall. One of them was tall and fair, wore a cap and carried two sacks. The other did not carry any baggage and paid me the fare. Both stood near the mall. I got another passenger and left," the driver told the court.

During his cross-examination by defence lawyer A Rehman and Kaynat Ali Shaikh, the driver said he only remembers the "tall and fair boy wearing cap" published in a Marathi daily on May 25, 2010, and had no idea of his name.

... contd.

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